It's getting so you just can't run a criminal enterprise anymore without someone bothering you. US Federal Authorities have seized and shut down the bitcoin-based, deep web site known as "Silk Road", and have arrested the alleged owner and operator of the site.

Anyone who has been keeping an eye on all things bitcoin related knew about the Silk Road site for years, and it's a little surprising that it took them this long to shut it down. It was a deep web (not accessible when doing regular browsing, and used the anonymous Tor network) site that has been used for a long time for dealing in such things as illicit drugs, money laundering, ATM machine hacking, ID theft, and more.

The Federal agencies also seized $3.6 million in bitcoins, and estimated that the site had done about $1.2 billion in sales. The federal agents were able to buy illegal drugs, which include Heroin, Cocaine and LSD, and purchase hacking services.

Any guess on how long it will be before another site like this pops up? People who are making copious amounts of money, whether legally or not, tend not to want to give up their golden goose very easily.